Holiday destinations that were unexpectedly lovely OR awful.

[NickiFury]

Torremolinos - ex booked it and I really didn't want to go. It was beautiful, amazing food, beach, perfect for kids, been back loads since.

Thailand - I hated it from the moment I left Bangkok airport, Krabi down by the coast was ok but the rest of the time was awful, I actually cried with relief when we touched down at Heathrow.

Agree - I was disappointed by Australia. The weather and beaches are the only things I really 'got' about it, but after two weeks was pretty much done with it.

Athens was a big disappointment. The ancient sites are amazing (but crowded) but can be comfortably done in a day. The rest of the city is just awful. My friend and I had allowed about 5 days there at the end of our inter railing trip around Europe and were sorely tempted to fly home early.

We've had some wonderful holidays. Love Egypt - have been 4 times to various resorts. Wouldn't risk it at the moment though.
Loved Cyprus - have stayed in Paphos twice.
This year due to a friend getting married in the middle of DH's 2 weeks of leave, we couldn't fly anywhere so decided to drive through France staying at Eurocamps sites instead. Tbh, I didn't think it would be a patch on our usual package holidays but I was so wrong. Best holiday ever! Felt like a real adventure and the DCs (3 and nearly 6) had an amazing time.

I've been to loads of places I'd never return to in a million years but there's certainly no entire country I'd write off.

Cyprus. We started in Paphos and thought it was a bit rubbish. However, we were cheered by the fact we were heading to Protaras. People had raved about it to us. Oh my God! It was the naffest place we had ever been. It seemed just full of themed bars with names like " Only fools and horses". I don't understand why anybody would go.

Great thread.

I find it fascinating that people have such different ideas about places.

Also agree that Barbados is distinctly underwhelming. Flat as a pancake and very un-scenic. I went there from St Lucia which has an awful lot of problems but is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Also liked Cuba but I was fascinated by the history, I didn't think that it was that pretty a place.
Bahamas was also crap though the beaches there were nice.

Really interested reading everyones different experiences.

Have recently returned from a camping trip up in Northumberland. I was looking forward to it, my partner was a little dubious but we both LOVED it. Absolutely loved it and I'd go back again, and spend much longer up there. So much to see and do, so beautiful and interesting and super friendly and peaceful.

It takes a lot for me to not like a place, holiday wise, I can usually find something to like about it, however. I really didn't enjoy our stay on the Costa Del Sol. The beach was grubby and the water full of plastic garbage. It was too hot for me, hard to keep toddler daughter entertained during the heat of the day. The food was great if you loved variations of fried or grilled seafood. I was desperate for fresh greens by the end of our stay. I'd be happy to never go back but MIL has flat there (that's why we were there) and she's angling for a return visit. Nerja was pretty though, and going inland there are some lovely towns, peaceful landscapes and we visited some stunning caves. Just the coast is a bit grim!

It's such a shame about Australia. It has so much going for it, and there are so many great people there, but the layer of bigotry, insularity and anti-intellectualism that is woven into the culture really lets it down. I grew up there, but have (happily) called London home for 16 years now. I still get people wondering why on earth I would chose London over Australia. Sure I miss my family and the sunshine but within two of being back there I'm desperate to return to my damp, messy London that's full of interested, engaged people busily getting on with doing all sorts of cool stuff without judgement, all generally rubbing along together fine. And real ale, and four seasons. I love Autumn. Yay UK, yay London!

A couple more loves...

Salzburg - beautiful city, so much to see/do, particularly if you're interested in the Mozart and/or Sound of Music side of it. The summer music festival is totally amazing - wonderful concerts, but also great music going on in the streets.

I loved Kraków when I went as a teenager (20 yrs ago now) - it was what I expected Prague to be like but Prague was much more touristy. Would love to take DH to Kraków for a short break if we can ever get rid of the kids for long enough.

PinkyofPie, I agree about the Old Town in Benidorm - there were some really lovely spots. If you want the noise, the bustle, and lots of lairy Brits being sick, then stay at the Levante end. Poniente beach and neighbouring Finestrat are great, and the mountain landscape is breathtaking in areas. The top floor of the Gran Hotel Bali has some spectacular views.

Bigkidz
I'm thinking of doing the same! I had a shortlist of lanzarote or corfu for our spring 2017 hols and on the basis of this thread lanzarote seems a heck of a lot more promising!

YY Beauty we state at Levante end and it was a good holiday but I would only go again if we stayed at the other end. I was gutted as we only explored the Old Town on our last day wish we hadn't left or so long we could've gone back again!

Someone up-thread described Australian cities as exhibiting a kind of glibness. I had to look up glibness.. and it's a perfect description!

I'm excited seeing peoples positive reviews about Krakow and Poland. It's a place I'd love to visit but again my partner is a bit 'hmm really?'. I'm just gonna have to remind him how he wasn't into my idea of Northumberland and was proven very wrong.

Pinky, if you go again, the La Cala area of the Old Town has some really nice hotels and it's a peaceful spot a stone's throw from the beach. It's active but not overwhelming. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Bali, and we were surprised how few Brits were staying there, it seemed to be mainly Spanish visitors.

We're hiring a car when we go next year, so we can get out to Alicante and Altea for day trips, but it's so easy to get around Benidorm by bus and cab. You can still do all the theme parks if you enjoy them (Terra Mitica is about 15km from La Cala), and the beach is lovely and peaceful in the evenings, so great for walking and relaxing. We're big fans, the DC can't wait to go

Hating Valencia. The Las Arenas area is currently in the process of ending my lifelong love of Spain, bit by bit, day by day. Only a week to go.

Oooh oooh I've just remembered another one (and then I need to get on with work, super procrastinatey this morning!). Bucharest in Romania. We were passing through on the train and only had 24 hours there and I loved it. Wish we could have stayed longer and explored more. Gorgeous, gorgeous architecture everywhere, crazily interesting (and tragic) history, really friendly people who love their culture. We were adopted by a young couple on the train who took us on a whirlwind tour of wine bars and historical places of importance. There is this amazing huge museum park that is full of real examples of historical rural architecture which I just loved.

If anyone gets a chance to go there, do it!

"but there's certainly no entire country I'd write off"

Exactly. People saying Italy FFS. I have had several lovely holidays there - Adriatic riviera, Lake Garda, Sorrento, Rome, and enjoyed them all.

Of course there have been some negative aspects - too much traffic on the Amalfi coast, the horror of the old terminal in Naples airport, the snootiness of the waiters in one hotel on Lake Garda, but I just love the beauty, the food, the drink and the culture.

We all have preconceived ideas about places we have never been to and I never expected to find so much beauty in Majorca or so much of interest to see in Lanzarote.

Although, having said that, I really didn't like Tunisia.

Hated:

• Porto Rico in gran canaria. A recommendation by one of DH's work colleagues for a spot of winter sun. Awful. Windy, tacky, crowded. We ended up getting the bus to mogan every day to get away from it.

• El Gouna in Egypt. Where were all the women?

• Tunisia. Nobody knew what to make of me and my husband (we are a mixed race couple) and we got a lot of unwanted attention. I also had a mc.

• LA. Had to drive everywhere, really seedy place with an air of menace.

Loved:

• Fiji. Just beautiful.

• Tanjung Benoa in Bali. Off the beaten track, and gorgeous.

• Toronto. Vibrant yet compact city.

• New York. Expected to hate it but really loved it, so much so I have been several times

• Amsterdam. Expected it to be seedy and nasty but it was beautiful.

• coast of the Netherlands. Huge beaches and nobody on them!

• Sydney. Not much love on here but I really enjoyed it. Very family friendly, great food, wonderful weather.

Feeling really nervous that I have booked to go to Santorini now after reading some of the negative comments.

Places I was really underwhelmed by:

Dublin
Milan
Pisa
Waterford

Places I have loved:

Lake Garda
Rome
Paris
Marrakech
Vendee
Nice
Lake Annecy

I am hoping Santorini makes it onto that loved list!

I love South Wales, Dorset, Yorkshire and Norfolk all stunningly beautiful

If the weather isn't too bad and there are nice walks/beaches I am fine with not have anything else to do it works for us I love having not much to do and not rushing around

Also loved Sri Lanka it's a beautiful country, south Vietnam, Thailand (not Patayya ), California is beautiful (LA you need someone who knows the place well to show you the best bits much of LA is dull), Barcelona, Kherla, Australia Sydeny, Pebbly Beach and Byron Bay Area my favourite places), Amsterdam, Paris and I absolutely love Italy. The smaller resorts where few tourists go are much nice and found the people lovely

Pre - motherhood
Me and my DH went to Alcidia in Mallorca and stayed in a complex of hotels called the Saturn Marte and Jupiter.
we were literally the only childless couple and we were bored shitless as the complex was quite far from the town. Every day they played Rolf Harris songs (before they discovered he was a very naughty boy)
It was pure torture.

Stately - yes re Istanbul one of my favourite cities in the world - did a lot of work there in a previous life - LOVE the place.

Loved Albania- beautiful country, stunning scenery, friendly people. Also loved moriara in Spain and San Remo in Italy and Croatia and Cambodia.
Liked Seoul, NZ and Melbourne
Hated most of China - rude people, horrible food. Loved Cambodia
I live in WA and love it here too!

We didn't care for Alcudia either, but enjoyed other parts of Majorca. We didn't have very good weather and kept our hire car for 10 days instead of the 3 days we had originally booked. As a result we got to see a lot more of the island and found some lovely places.

Loved turkey although I wouldn't go there at the moment. Have recently fallen in love with the Isle of Wight, loved Australia, New York, Florida.

Dubai is a soulless cultureless place as is Singapore. The problem with the Caribian ime is that there is too much of a divide between rich and poor and that you have to be protected within a tourist bubble. In which case what's the point, you could be holiday'ing anywhere in the world.

So should have done that Nickname
We were young at the time and hadn't much money so thought an all inclusive would be fab as we could drink what we liked so felt trapped in the hotel
By the end of the week DH was paid so we blew a fair bit on day trips.

It didn't help either that we went to a water park on the first day and the slides were super dangerous I slammed my head into a rock on one slide with the speed of the water and had to gp and have first aid and was too shaken to go on anything else.